BEAVERTON, Ore., Aug. 5 -- Planar Systems Inc. has been awarded a multi-year development contract by the US Army Communications - Electronics Command of Ft. Monmouth, N.J., to develop a new family of analog active matrix electroluminescent (AMEL) microdisplays. The displays developed under this contract will be used in a broad range of headset and viewfinder applications for the military, industrial, medical, and consumer markets.Planar's current line of microdisplays based on a digital AMEL design has met with success in military applications as a result of its ruggedness, brightness, contrast and long life. The displays were designed for new systems that utilize digital display interfaces, and require external analog-to-digital circuitry to interface with most computer- and video-based systems. The new analog AMEL displays incorporate the analog-to-digital function on the integrated display backplane chip, minimizing the power required by those display interface systems with analog outputs.